


Heart of Ice

by xyrilyn



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Rise of the Guardians Setting, Angst, Character Death, Death by Drowning, Father Frost!Victor, Fluff, Human!Yuuri, I swear, Ice/Snow/Winter Spirit!Victor, Idk how it ended up like this, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Intended Ending Is Not A Happy Ending, M/M, Meh I borrowed some stuff from Rise of the Guardians erm so yeah, Nightmares, Nothing Is As It Is, Rating Raised - Just To Be Safe, Recurring Timelines, Terminal Illnesses, The fluff tag is a lie, Tragedy, angst angst angst, experimental writing style, jack frost!victor, multiple character death, short fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-17 10:42:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9320129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xyrilyn/pseuds/xyrilyn
Summary: Born into the world as a winter spirit with no memories of his past life whatsoever, Victor wandered the world for centuries on his own, lost and utterly alone.One day, he meets a human whom he finds highly endearing. Against his better judgment, he befriends the human named Yuuri Katsuki.However, like all humans, Yuuri's lifespan is only finite.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Rise of the Guardians (2012). The only part of it that is RotG is Victor being a ice/snow/winter spirit, really.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr as well, under the same username (http://chibilysis.tumblr.com/) if you wanna chat or something. If you follow me, I'll happily follow back!
> 
> The intended ending for this story is not a happy one - you have been warned. I had to write this to get this out of my system.
> 
> Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy reading the story!

Victor slowly became increasingly aware that he was floating. He didn't know what that _meant_ , but that was the first thing that came to mind, really. This sensation of weightlessness was both disconcerting, yet strangely calming at the same time. He should be worried - but at the same time, he had a feeling that this was how it was supposed to be.

He hovered about as he drifted in and out of consciousness - specks of light in the distance, beckoning him.

The light grew more intense, blinding him. Despite the numbness in his limbs, he reached forward, inching ever closer until-

Victor gasped as air rushed into his lungs - sweet, fresh air.

Collapsing onto the ice, he turned around to peer into the darkness he had been sleeping in.

It was a lake - a half frozen one. He had just emerged from a frozen lake.

_'What the hell...?'_

He looked down at what he wearing. He was clad in a brown tunic and a pair of similar trousers. He had no shoes. His long, white hair flowed down in waves past his shoulders.

_'H-How?'_

Although his knees and arms were touching the ice, they felt _normal_ to him. He stared at his hands - they... appeared normal.

Scrambling back onto his feet, he let out a shout of surprise when he felt the ice below his feet suddenly become slippery. He collapsed back onto the ice again, landing harshly on his shoulder. That would definitely bruise.

He turned back to look at his feet. What the hell just happened-

His eyes went wide.

His feet. They were _covered_ with ice.

_'No, no, no, no, no.'_

He rubbed the ice that had mysteriously grown over his feet with his hands, willing them to thaw.

And somehow, the moment he did that, the ice melted away.

Victor stared at his hands, trembling from fear - but not the cold, somehow.

Swallowing noticeably, he gingerly placed one hand on the ice below him.

Nothing happened.

Focusing, he thought about how he _wanted_ ice to grow and radiate outwards and-

In a crackle of what Victor could only describe as magic, icy frost spread across the already frozen surface of the lake, coating the surface in a beautiful spiderweb of frost and snow.

A wide grin broke out across his face.

Overhead, the moon shone brilliantly in the night sky.

.  
.  
.

Humans were mortal - their lives were short and finite. They weren't like him - immortal.

When he had first awoken from his centuries-long slumber, no human could see him. He was invisible. They couldn't hear his words - his screams - his cries. They couldn't see how distraught he was when he realised he was alone - utterly, completely alone. He couldn't touch them either - his touches had nothing to them. Humans just walked away or right through him as if he didn't exist.

He walked the land for years to see if there was someone - anyone - with whom he could talk on the same level - to no avail. The other spirits - most of whom were far older than him - mostly left him alone to his own devices. From Victor's perspective, it just seemed that they had more important duties to fulfil than to converse with a lowly ice spirit like him.

To fight off the boredom and sorrow, he threw himself into experiments to see just what he could do with his powers. He learnt that he could command the wind and create ice and frost from his fingertips. Focusing enough, he could even conjure snow in places where snow couldn't possibly exist. He wrecked havoc in both hemispheres of the planet by creating anomalies in weather unprecedented in human history. Strangely enough, none of the spirits stopped him - they were annoyed, of course, but they acted as if Victor would arrive at his senses soon enough and stop voluntarily. Victor just thought they were lazy.

One day, as he was conjuring another snowstorm to hit this coastal town he had stumbled upon in his journeys, a shrill scream broke his concentration.

He looked around to find the source of the voice only to realise that a girl was staring at him.

_She was staring right at him._

He could finally be seen by humans!

He dropped his arms back to his sides, eyes never leaving the young girl. She was crying, eyes red and puffy, fear evident in the trembling of her small frame. The snowstorm he had been brewing was entirely forgotten. Overhead, the dark clouds slowly disappeared.

He approached the girl, but before he could say anything, she screamed in fear and ran away.

Victor wasn't sure when the rumours started, but they must have begun forming around then. Sightings of a white-haired spirit commanding the wind and snow, became more commonplace. Victor realised that the more people _believed_ in his existence, the more people could see him. They didn't even have to see him - they just needed to think about him, or in his case, about his snowstorms and eternal ice.

He was infinitely glad that he could now be seen by humans - by anyone other than spirits, really. Although, he hated the fact that they _feared_ him.

They were afraid of what he could _do_ \- of what he had already _done_. He supposed it was only reasonable...

The snowstorms he conjured on a whim in the past had devastated countless villages and towns - he had destroyed crops, ruined homes and killed so many humans.

Mankind was utterly terrified of him.

For good reason, too. His powers only seemed to cause sadness, grief and pain. After all, what could his ice and snow bring other than cold and death?

.  
.  
.

Centuries passed in relative silence and complete solitude. Victor found no reason to seek out the other spirits - or anyone else, for that matter.

He stopped conjuring snowstorms across the planet now. The very act had lost its appeal. The snowstorms and snow days he created nowadays were mild compared to when he was his younger self.

Victor found that mankind still mostly believed in his existence. He went by another name now: 'Father Frost', they called him. He had many names, but he found that one particularly endearing. Well, it didn't really matter to him - humans could call him whatever they liked.

The arrangement suited Victor just fine. Anyone who managed to get a glimpse of him didn't recognise him anyway. Their depictions of him were highly inaccurate, sad to say. All of this meant that Victor could actually walk among humans and no one would recognise him.

He took advantage of that on numerous occasions. Obviously.

More often than not, when he was feeling bored, he would dress up in whatever garments society expected males to be typically dressed in and then take a stroll through towns and cities that caught his attention.

If he was feeling particularly adventurous, he would pickpocket some careless humans and get himself some money to use. He understood the human concept of money easily enough.

Unsurprisingly, he found himself liking cold desserts the most. Especially the sweet kind.

Looking back on everything he had done and experienced, Victor thought he had come pretty far from when he first woke up.

Everything had changed and yet, everything that mattered to him still remained the same.

.  
.  
.

Staring into the ice mirror he had conjured, Victor looked at his long hair.

In one hand, he had a pair of metal scissors.

Deciding that this was as good a time as any to try out a new hairstyle, Victor cut off the bulk of it.

He wondered how he'd look like with short hair. Well, time to find out...

.  
.  
.

After paying for an ice-cream cone, Victor absent-mindedly licked it as he strolled through one of the city's many parks.

The sun was shining brightly from above. It was the perfect day for a stroll.

Holding his dog's leash loosely in one hand, Victor let Makkachin do the walking while he followed its trail. Makkachin was an obedient poodle anyway - Victor wasn't concerned about Makkachin running off.

Victor suddenly felt a strong tug on the leash and he looked down - Makkachin was trying to move behind him?

"V-Vicchan, stop it!"

A male's voice drifted over. Victor looked up.

A bespectacled, raven-haired young man was trying to control his own poodle. Makkachin and Vicchan were both barking - their conversation lost to both of their owners.

"I-I'm sorry about this. Vicchan is usually very obedient..." the young man apologised with a sheepish smile. Victor smiled back.

"It's no problem. Makkachin is usually very obedient as well..." Victor gave Makkachin's leash a tug but the poodle stubbornly remained where it was. "I guess they will be done when they're done." Makkachin responded with a bark in Victor's direction. Victor rolled his eyes.

"My name's Yuuri Katsuki. It's a pleasure to meet you..." the human introduced himself, holding a hand out for Victor to take. Victor thought it was cute. Transferring his ice-cream cone over to the hand that had the leash, Victor shook Yuuri's outstretched hand.

"Victor Nikiforov. It's nice to meet you, too."

They sat down by the side of the path, on the trimmed grass, just talking about their everyday lives. Makkachin and Vicchan both didn't seem to be moving any time soon, so... they just talked. Well. Yuuri talked about his life. Victor just made things up as they went along.

"I'm an artist, you see. I'm just starting out as one and work is pretty hard to come by, so right now I'm just working in a cafe. What do you do?"

Victor gave it some thought. "I'm a writer of sorts. I travel a lot. Despite how it sounds, my work is pretty boring." There was some truth in that, at least.

"A writer, eh? It's cool that you get to travel though!"

"It gets tiring when you travel so much, but I've learnt to deal with it." He'd learnt to control the winds a long, long time ago.

"What places have you seen?"

Victor picked a random place he'd visited before and told the human about it. He seemed so interested that Victor just felt like indulging him.

With a small blush, Yuuri said, "that's so cool... I wish I got to see such interesting places..." He fiddled with the end of his leash.

For reasons unbeknownst to him, Victor found the human's nervousness endearing. When Vicchan pounced on Victor and slobbered saliva all over his face, Yuuri laughed at him.

Victor liked the sound of the human's laugh, too.

The human bent down to carry the poodle into his arms. Victor called Makkachin over.

"Well, they're not barking and glomping each other now, so I guess they're done talking," Yuuri petted Vicchan's head.

"Are we?" Victor posed the question.

The human looked at him with such hopeful eyes.

"E-Eh, we-well, we could t-talk more later- I mean, another time... if you want to, of course," Yuuri muttered softly. The human lightly bit his lower lip before mustering the courage to pull out his phone to pass to Victor.

"E-Exchange numbers?" he squeaked with his eyes squeezed closed.

Victor smiled fondly. "Of course." Victor pulled out his own phone to give to Yuuri. He gave the human his contact number.

"I-I'll text you...?"

"Sure. Anything you like."

"O-Okay!" he said, blushing, "Uh... s-see you!"

The human - still holding his poodle - ran off. Victor laughed a little at the adorable sight.

Grabbing his own poodle into his arms, Victor nuzzled Makkachin's head, laughing as Makkachin licked him back.

"Let's go home, mkay?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is the happiest we're going to see these two be.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri is diagnosed with a terminal illness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags have been updated.

Victor sat down on the empty seat next to Yuuri's. Yuuri shot him a warm smile.

"Vitya... Sorry about the last minute phone call. They changed my appointment at the last minute."

Victor shook his head. "It's fine. I was in the area anyway," he told him. Riding the winds, he could easily get from the north to the south pole in just under an hour. Getting to this cafe was child's play.

Over the years, Yuuri had snuck past the walls Victor had built around himself. He'd let Yuuri do and say things to him that he would never accept from any other human being. Hell, somewhere along the way, Victor had even begun referring to Yuuri by his given name. The spirit knew he shouldn't be allowing this - but, he just couldn't help it.

It was _Yuuri_ after all.

For Yuuri, Victor would do _anything_.

Yes, that statement applied even to their current _predicament_.

It was wrong to see Yuuri being so _calm_ and _happy_ about all of this.

It had been happening more often recently - Yuuri was getting better at reading Victor's thoughts and moods. Which shouldn't even be happening for crying out loud.

"We don't need to discuss it anymore, Victor. It is what it is," Yuuri said, wrapping his hands around the warm cup of coffee before taking a small sip.

Victor bit his lower lip. "I don't understand how you can be so calm about all of this!" Victor said, voice raised and stunning the other cafe patrons nearby.

Victor had known Yuuri for years now. While Yuuri may repeatedly tell others that Victor is the bundle of sunshine and optimism that never failed to brighten up Yuuri's day, Yuuri was, in fact, Victor's one and only guiding light in this dark, depressing world. _Nothing_ compared to Yuuri. His brilliance at painting, his sweet laughs, his warm smiles... How Yuuri always managed to put a smile on Victor's face with his adorable antics, without even having to _try_.

Yuuri smiled. It came out wrong - Victor knew Yuuri well enough to realise this immediately.

"Worrying means you suffer twice, no?"

.  
.  
.

Victor sat, rock still, as the doctor explained every single bit of what was _wrong_ with Yuuri.

Nothing should be wrong with Yuuri. _Nothing_. It just wasn't _fair_.

The ice and frost he could conjure was _nothing_ compared to the chill that crawled down his spine at the doctor's words.

 _Grade IV_. _Terminal_. _Inoperable_.

Victor had to use every bit of self-restraint to keep his powers in check then and there. Yuuri nodded, expression solemn.

"Thank you for your time, doctor," Yuuri said, standing up to leave.

Victor turned to look at the doctor. The man's expression crumbled into one of guilt upon seeing Victor's face.

"I am truly sorry for your loss. I really am."

Victor chased after Yuuri.

"Yuuri."

"Victor," Yuuri sighed.

"We need to talk."

"What about?"

"You're kidding me right?"

"It is what it is-"

"How can you just _accept_ this?"

"We are only human. What _can_ we do?" Yuuri pleaded with his eyes for Victor to understand.

He simply couldn't.

There were a thousand things he could have said - he said none of them.

"I won't leave your side. You must know that."

Yuuri met Victor's unwavering gaze head on. "I know."

"No matter what, I _will_ take care of you."

Yuuri's eyes softened at that. He nodded. "I know."

Standing by the side of the road, Victor had only eyes for Yuuri. All around them, the world carried on, unaware. Everything that was not Yuuri was greyed out for him - muted - unimportant.

Victor would stay strong. He had to. At least, until the very end. He started all of this - it was only right if he saw it through until the end.

"What... do you want to do now?" Victor began warily.

What does a man do when they know that their days are numbered? It was a question Victor had no answer to.

Yuuri gave it some thought. "I... want to see the city."

The doctor's words from before echoed strongly in his mind.

"I'll go hail a cab. Just sit somewhere nearby, I'll be right-"

"I'm fine, Victor. I'd rather stand on my own two feet while I still can."

Victor pretended he didn't hear the last bit and ushered Yuuri to a bench anyway.

"Where to?" the driver asked.

"Anywhere," Yuuri said, shrugging.

They toured around the city in a cab. Yuuri's eyes were transfixed on the city the entire time. Victor said nothing, mind heavy with thoughts of what to do next.

Yuuri often visited the parts of the city he liked for inspiration for his work. Victor knew that Yuuri actually wanted to see more of the world - and they had, in the years they were together - but there were still so many places to see, so many things to do. He hated the fact that the universe just had to take that choice away from his beloved Yuuri.

 _'Or had it?'_ A part of his mind supplied.

The cab driver - as if somehow sensing the mood - remained quiet the entire time and drove slowly enough for Yuuri to be able to appreciate the scenery.

When they finally reached home, Victor paid the hefty cab fee and thanked the driver profusely for deliberately driving slowly. The driver had made more than a few dozen drivers angry tonight.

"Take care of him, you hear?" the driver answered back, shocking Victor into almost dropping his phone and wallet onto the ground.

"H-How did you-"

"You two got into my cab right outside a hospital and the first thing the young man says to me is, 'take me anywhere'," the old man explained, giving Victor a mildly scolding look. "I may be old, but I'm not blind. Especially not to these sorts of things."

They said nothing more on the matter that night. Victor tried to write, failing miserably as his attention was on Yuuri the entire time. Yuuri was reorganising all of his paints and art equipment for some goddamned reason. Victor had his laptop open on his lap while sitting on the couch in the living room. The laptop had stayed on until its battery died out. Yuuri _still_ wasn't done. Victor didn't want him to finish - he wanted that corner of the room to stay just the way it was.

"Yuuri, it's getting late," Victor told him.

Yuuri gave Victor a nod before dropping a box onto another stack of similar-sized boxes.

They go to bed. Victor watched as Yuuri drifted into sleep and he remained like that until the sun was up again. As a spirit, he didn't _need_ to sleep.

He would rather spend as much time as physically possible by Yuuri's side.

.  
.  
.

"Do you hate me, Victor?"

Victor dropped the plate he had been washing onto the sink. Fortunately, it didn't break or crack.

The silver-haired spirit turned around to look at Yuuri. The raven-haired man was listlessly moving around the cereal in his bowl with his spoon.

"I suppose I should re-phrase that. _Will_ you hate me, Victor?"

"Of course not! Yuuri, I'll never, _ever_ hate you," Victor exclaimed as he threw his wet gloves aside and went over to Yuuri's side. "I love you - there's nothing in the entire world that would ever change that."

Yuuri smiled. "I love you, too. Forever, and always."

Victor smiled back. "What suddenly brought this on?"

Yuuri pushed his still half-full bowl of cereal away. "I don't want the treatment."

Victor choked on air at Yuuri's words.

"W-Why?"

"I don't want your final memories of me to be that of me being bound to a bed, confined by the four walls of a tiny room."

"W-We have to at least try-"

"There's almost zero chance of removing the tumour permanently at this stage. I would have to return for treatment again and again and again-" Yuuri's voice broke at the last part.

Yuuri wasn't saying what he truly wanted to say - Victor could tell. Yuuri didn't need to say it out loud though - Victor could easily read everything that Yuuri _wasn't_ saying.

Behind every word, Yuuri was trying desperately to mask the fact that once everything began, he wouldn't be able to even hold his paintbrush anymore. His work - his art - was _everything_ to him. The very idea of having to put his paintbrush away forever would kill him slowly from the inside out. The very notion of seeing Yuuri broken and weak like that tore at Victor's heart. He didn't think he could bear to watch it unfold. Yuuri was doing this not just for himself - but for Victor's sake as well.

"I-I don't think I can go through with it," Yuuri said, voice suddenly so small.

The treatment or the symptoms? Victor got the impression that it was both. What other option did they have? Victor was scared to ask. Partly because he already knew the answer, and partly because he refused to accept it.

Judging by the look Yuuri was giving him, Yuuri must be thinking of the same thing as well.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There. It's done. It's over.  
> I don't know what this is.

The nightmares always began the same way.

Yuuri, lying on the bed. White sheets over his still form. Too soft breaths filling the hollow silence of the room.

He could only watch as the breaths became laboured - harsh - rough. The sounds of his loved one's breathing was punctuated only by groans and whimpers of pain.

Yuuri would call out for Victor, but he was _powerless_ to do _anything_.

He could only watch on in silence.

Holding onto Yuuri's hand in a vice-like grip, Victor stared long and hard into Yuuri's eyes - unwilling to break eye contact.

 _'Let me be the last thing he sees,'_ he pleaded to an unknown god.

His dreams were never merciful to him.

With a stuttering breath, Yuuri began choking from the pain.

Yuuri's eyes stared back at him - somehow, beyond all comprehension, they were steady, strong and filled with so much _love_.

'It's time,' came the unspoken words.

He couldn't do this anymore - not again. His facade broke - as it always did - and Victor started sobbing.

It was getting harder and harder for Yuuri to keep his eyes open, he could tell. Yuuri was still fighting to keep them open - to look at Victor one last time - even though it pained him to do so.

Unable to find his voice, Victor mouthed the words, 'I love you,' before gently pressing his lips to Yuuri's. He felt Yuuri kiss back, ever so lightly.

Slowly, those eyes drifted closed.

His breaths slowed.

And after an eternity, they stopped.

Yuuri's hand phased right through his own, dropping onto the bed with a soft thud.

Victor opened his mouth to scream - and scream he did - but no one could hear him.

The nurses and doctors came to take his body. Victor begged and begged for them to not take him away yet - but they couldn't hear him. As they busied themselves with removing the machinery that was connected to Yuuri's now unmoving body, Victor peppered phantom kisses all over his lover, struggling to remember how it felt to have Yuuri's skin beneath his fingertips. Victor hadn't even been given a chance to hold Yuuri one last time - how cruel the fates can be.

Everything after that was always a blur.

Just as sudden as the nightmare began, it ended.

.  
.  
.

Victor was afraid of falling asleep. Sleeping meant the nightmares became his reality.

Turning to his side, he watched the gentle rise and fall of Yuuri's chest as he slept. Victor had committed to memory, the sight of his sleeping lover, a very long time ago, ever since _the diagnosis_.

He reached out and caressed Yuuri's cheek, barely touching skin. A fond smile made its way onto his face as he watched Yuuri sleep on peacefully.

Victor had promised Yuuri peace for the remainder of his days. Yuuri would come to terms with this illness his own way - he refused to go out gently and let the illness claim him. If he had to die, he would do so on his own terms - or so Yuuri had said.

As it was Yuuri's final request, Victor would grant Yuuri that, even if it meant shattering his own heart.

Victor was not going to make the same mistake again.

.  
.  
.

At the lake where it all first began, Victor stood on the surface of the still water, staring up at the moon angrily.

Victor no longer hurled curses and a slew of vulgar words at the spirit of the moon whenever he saw him - the being who cursed him with this hellish existence in the first place. His powers originated from the moon - he knew that much at least. The moon could take it away just as easily, but he didn't. Victor hated the moon for it.

"This is all just a game to you, isn't?" Victor hissed.

The moon did not reply, as expected. He had never answered back - not even once after all these centuries, after so many human lifetimes.

"Never. Never again," he made a solemn vow as he glared back.

.  
.  
.

Clutching his lover close to him, Victor pressed a kiss onto Yuuri's forehead, whispering a spell that would keep him asleep and blissfully unaware. It would be painless - Victor would make sure of that.

Stepping into the lake, he slowly waded towards the centre.

Once the water was up to chest level, Victor slowly lowered Yuuri - and himself - into the water.

The nothingness in the deep waters of the lake had a strange calming effect on him. Maybe it was because he had spent centuries here before being born as a spirit. Would Yuuri be granted the same peace, he wondered?

Reaching deep into himself for his magic, Victor wrapped the both of them in his eternal ice.

As long as Victor stayed asleep, his magic would preserve Yuuri as well. Yuuri didn't need to suffer anymore - neither did he.

For the first time in a very long time, Victor willingly slipped into the arms of Morpheus.

.  
.  
.

Yuuri got the distinct feeling that he had been sleeping for a very long time. Something - _someone_ \- called to him to wake up.

 _He woke up_.

He found himself lying on the surface of a frozen lake.

Sitting up, Yuuri saw that he wasn't alone.

A silver-haired young man was lying on the ice beside him.

Yuuri approached him. His eyes were shut and he wasn't breathing.

The raven-haired male began panicking. His gaze darted about the place, hoping to find someone - anyone.

 _'Please, someone - anyone!'_ he pleaded with everything he had.

His hands were trembling - shaking not from the cold, but from something else altogether. It was an emotion that he couldn't really place. It felt foreign, yet familiar at the same time.

_'Someone, please, help him!'_

Suddenly, the silver-haired male began coughing harshly, spitting out a lot of water at the same time. He heaved over and over again as he tried to get air into his lungs.

It was only then that Yuuri realised that there was a gaping crack in the icy surface nearby. It was a hole - a hole just large enough for _someone to fall through_.

"Y-Yuuri!" the silver-haired man screamed _his_ name.

Without a moment of hesitation, the other male approached the hole in the ice. Yuuri then realised he was going to dive into the freezing lake water.

His chest went hollow at the sight.

 _'What. No. Don't. You'll die! Stop!'_ he shouted.

The man _couldn't_ hear him. Why?

Yuuri instinctively reached out an arm to stop him.

He walked through his arm like it was thin air and dove straight into the icy waters.

Yuuri didn't know why, but tears began welling up behind his eyes. He fell to his knees. He realised then that he couldn't feel _anything_ at all - not the cold, not even the hard, icy surface beneath his legs.

'Please... Save him, save him, _don't let him die_.'

The man never resurfaced.

.  
.  
.

In the small town of Hawthorne, a tale existed that told the story of two lovers who found each other at the lake.

The story had since been passed from generation to generation, its details lost to time.

It became a sort of local fairy tale - to warn children never to go near the lake during winter as the lake's icy surface - while appearing seemingly harmless and safe - has actually cracked and submerged people in its deep, dark depths, drowning them.

The story probably went different back then - no one truly knows the original story anymore - but the ending of the story was always the same:

Both lovers perished when the ice gave way beneath them.

It is said that the two lovers were still within the lake, sleeping.

One fell through the ice first - the other went back to save him.

They never made it back up to the surface.


End file.
